7: What are some ways to gamify the task? Try to have fun with it!
Does anyone actually regularly do this? I understand in theory why it makes sense to turn a boring task into a game, but I feel like it takes an inordinate amount of willpower to do so. When I’m procrastinating, I usually just feel way too lethargic to set up a bunch of self imposed rules and tell myself “okay instead of just processing one hundred widgets, I’m going to go really fast and try really hard to process two widgets every minute!” or whatever. Maybe I’m just thinking about it in the wrong way though.
Great post, by the way. I will probably end up using this at some point. Making a checklist like this is something I wanted to do eventually, now I don’t have to. :)
When working in a textiles warehouse I would make it fun by imagining someone I’d met walking down a familiar street while showing off the shirt/hat/etc. I just sorted/tagged/profiled in a ridiculous fashion show montage, then turning to me with a smile and a wink or thumbs-up and saying, “Thanks, man!” or similar after I finished X items depending on the day’s quota. The person would then step into a crowd behind me cheering me on, who I would imagine turning around and “hi-five”-ing one at a time after arbitrary milestones to celebrate my progress.
To come up with this idea I asked myself who would be disappointed if no one in the world were willing to do any job resembling mine anymore and what would they be losing, then optimized the generated examples for salience and awesomeness.
I still wouldn’t consider this “gamifying” a task because it doesn’t seem like much of a game, there’s no winning or losing or challenges involved. Maybe “gamifying ” is just a misleading term?
The game aspect is trying to get a higher “score” of hi-fives at the end of each day. Sort of like Tetris or Bejeweled where you always run out of space/time eventually, but can play again to improve your score.
Does anyone actually regularly do this? I understand in theory why it makes sense to turn a boring task into a game, but I feel like it takes an inordinate amount of willpower to do so. When I’m procrastinating, I usually just feel way too lethargic to set up a bunch of self imposed rules and tell myself “okay instead of just processing one hundred widgets, I’m going to go really fast and try really hard to process two widgets every minute!” or whatever. Maybe I’m just thinking about it in the wrong way though.
Great post, by the way. I will probably end up using this at some point. Making a checklist like this is something I wanted to do eventually, now I don’t have to. :)
When working in a textiles warehouse I would make it fun by imagining someone I’d met walking down a familiar street while showing off the shirt/hat/etc. I just sorted/tagged/profiled in a ridiculous fashion show montage, then turning to me with a smile and a wink or thumbs-up and saying, “Thanks, man!” or similar after I finished X items depending on the day’s quota. The person would then step into a crowd behind me cheering me on, who I would imagine turning around and “hi-five”-ing one at a time after arbitrary milestones to celebrate my progress.
To come up with this idea I asked myself who would be disappointed if no one in the world were willing to do any job resembling mine anymore and what would they be losing, then optimized the generated examples for salience and awesomeness.
lolololol I love this!
I still wouldn’t consider this “gamifying” a task because it doesn’t seem like much of a game, there’s no winning or losing or challenges involved. Maybe “gamifying ” is just a misleading term?
The game aspect is trying to get a higher “score” of hi-fives at the end of each day. Sort of like Tetris or Bejeweled where you always run out of space/time eventually, but can play again to improve your score.